Symbols are merely representations. Although they conjure up emotions and concepts, we should realize them for what they are, and not allow them to condition us. For this reason the Buddha said, “I have spread the Dharma for forty-nine years, but I have not said a single word.” Because the Buddha spread the Dharma using the symbols of language, the Buddha did not say anything real. It was all dharma dust.

The sense consciousness of mind is empty because it is made up of the five skandhas, which are intrinsically empty. Sense consciousness has two aspects. First, an external aspect that comes from the interaction of sense faculties and sense objects; it includes the first four skandhas—form, sensation, perception, and volition. The second aspect of sense consciousness refers to the fifth skandha, consciousness—the karmic force that ensures future retribution. When a sense faculty and a sense object come together, there is sensation. The interaction that leads to sensation is retribution for previous karma. This retribution, in turn, leads to mental activity—perception and volition. Volition stimulates response, which creates new karmic forces in the sense consciousness, providing continuity to the future.

I have just analyzed mind and its functions in relation to the sense faculty, sense object, and consciousness of mind, but the direct contemplation of their emptiness is the proper practice. To understand that mind is unreal and empty is to realize that it is only the continuity of karmic force amidst a matrix of different causes and conditions. There is no fixed, independent mind.